Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

There are 1,343 people working actively on this. There is huge pressure on staff in many offices. We recognise that and that is the reason we have taken the measures of allocating extra people, providing overtime and putting in temporary staff. This is being kept under constant review, particularly in the offices where there is a particular delay. I repeat, nobody need be destitute or in poverty. People can go to the social welfare officer for supplementary assistance.

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